A slow cooker is truly a "set it and forget it"
appliance, turning out whole meals with very little effort
on your part.
Consumer Reports home and food editor, Perry Santanachote,
explains the options you'll find when shopping for one.
These simple appliances help make great meals
with minimal effort.
They just need a little bit of time, or a lot of time,
depending on how you look at it.
It's the only appliance that will
let you start a pot of stew in the morning,
go to work all day, and come home
to a hot and hearty dinner.
The slow cooker's popularity doesn't
seem to be winding down any time soon either.
Crockpot used to be the only name of the game.
But now there are over a dozen brands to choose from.
Some are on the pricier side and some are more affordable.
So what are you getting for your money?
The slow cookers we tested range from $30 to nearly $200.
But we found the best performers cost between $70 and $100.
So you don't need to pay top dollar for a top performer.
But maybe don't go to the cheapest ones either.
There are a handful of features that
set the more expensive models apart from the cheaper ones.
It mainly comes down to the settings.
At the $30 end of the spectrum are manual slow cookers.
These ones are pretty much plug and play appliances.
You have the option of High Heat, Low Heat, maybe
a Keep Warm setting.
There's no timer and the cooker is not
going to stop cooking until you manually turn it off.
Now, at a higher price point, you're
truly getting a "set it and forget it" experience.
Programmable slow cookers allow for more flexibility
such as Delayed Start function, time cooking that automatically
switches to the Keep Warm setting,
and some even have the ability to brown your meats
and vegetables directly in the slow cooker.
This is a really nice feature. , Browning is something you
should be doing anyway to enhance the flavors
of your soup and stews.
With most models, you would have to dirty another pan
on the stove.
But being able to do it directly in your slow cooker
is a big plus.
Another great feature you might see
are these temperature probes.
You stick into your roast, and then
once the internal temperature reaches the desired level,
the cooker will automatically switch to Keep Warm and prevent
your meat from overcooking.
Past CR tests have found that any slow cooker can
do a great job with chicken.
But the real challenge-- beef stew with potatoes and carrots.
We put each slow cooker to the test
to see how tender and flavorful it
could get the stew on High Heat for five hours
and then on Low Heat for eight hours.
It turns out the more expensive models don't necessarily
cook better than the cheap ones, they're just more convenient.
In our test, a $30 slow cooker turned out beef stew
just as tasty as the $100 model did.
There are also factors worth considering
that don't necessarily align with price points.
For one, the shape of your slow cooker--
an oblong cooker accommodates large cuts of meat and racks
of ribs with ease.
But they eat up a lot of storage space.
If you plan to just make soups with your slow cooker,
a round one may be a better fit.
The size is also important to consider.
A six-quart capacity is most common.
And recipes usually are written for this size.
But you can find slow cookers that fit more than eight quarts
and as little as one and a half quarts.
So choose the size that makes the most
sense for your household.
Lastly, if you're cooking for potlucks,
look for a slow cooker with a locking lid and a carrying
handle.
It will make transport so much easier.
But may also want to check how much the thing weighs.
We've tested models anywhere between 7 and 17 pounds,
and that's even before we added the food.
So if you're ready to commit to a slow cooker,
consider your budget and which features I mentioned
are most important to you.
For more information and a full list
of our slow cooker ratings--
Check out CR.org/slowcookers.
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